That Parisien touch
Saxophonist Emile Parisien delivers a sensational concert with top musicians
Emile Parisien Quintet Sfumato Live In Marciac
Emile Parisien (soprano sax), Joachim Kühn (piano), Manu Codiji (guitar), Simon Tailleu (double bass), Mario Costa (drums); with Wynton Marsalis (trumpet), Vincent Peirani (accordion), and Michel Portal (clarinet)
ACT Music 6021-2 56:19mins (CD + DVD format) Marciac, a village in southwest France, is the unlikely venue for a festival that’s grown into a European jazz Mecca – and its college is where the 35-year-old soprano saxophonist Emile Parisien spent his formative years. He returned with his quintet in 2017 as artist in residence to deliver a sensational concert, caught here in all its glory on this superbly produced CD and DVD pack.
An impassioned expressionist in his writing and sound, Parisien makes music of great intensity and clarity. It’s also unmistakeably French, and the darkly dramatic opening suite, Le clown tueur de la fête foraine, is washed through with swirling accordion from Vincent Peirani and the querulous bass clarinet of Michel Portal. It’s a measure of Parisien’s growing global stature that guest star Wynton Marsalis joins to fire up Henry Lodge’s Temptation Rag in imperious style, and stays on for Kühn’s hard edged neo-bop number Transmitting. This is live jazz at its life-enhancing best. ★★★★★